Etherknitter

Ten on Tuesday: 10 cars I have owned

This ToT is actually harder than it looks.  

1.  My first car was a Ford Fiesta.  I kept it for about 7 years.  My father helped me negotiate the price.  I really wanted a Honda Accord, but was $1700 short.  Ford stands for Fix Or Repair Daily.  I knew I had a lemon when one of the plastic levers inside the car snapped off during the first cold days of ownership.  I think it was the controls for the heater.  It never got better.  The turn signals kept refusing to blink. My then-boyfriend did a better job than the dealership.  He wiped some grease off the contacts.  I was so happy when I could sell her.  (Yes, she was bright yellow.  I needed a car, and that was what they had on the lot.  There is another story for another time about learning how to drive stick shift, because that is also all they had on the lot.  I may have been braver back then.)

2.  Honda Civic Wagovan:  This was the closest I could get to the Accord, financially. I was at the end of my residency, and without enough salary.  How long did she last?  Probably about 7 or 8 years. I picked her up in the middle of a weird April blizzard.  The car saleslady forgot to give me the plates.  I wasn't stopped by the police.  She had to deliver them through the same 17 miles I had just driven, in the blizzard.

3/4.  Honda Accord #1 and #2:  Of course.  The only reason I traded the second one in was because it was not AWD, and I needed AWD.

5.  Audi A4 AWD:  The car of my heart.  Zippy.  Beautiful.  Drove like she was on rails. But then at 59,000 miles, she developed an oil leak.  Unfixable, just controllable.  The rear bearings went 1000 miles later.  More shit happened.  I do not do expensive children.  I think she was 6 years old when I traded her in for a

6.  Lexus IS 250 AWD:  Comfortable?  Yes.  Zippy?  No.  Reliable?  Pretty much.  Exciting?  No.  This is not the car of my heart.  It is a tool. 

There are no others.  I keep cars for a long time, just like Click and Clack recommended.  Mr. E has driven a Nissan Sentra, and three Subaru Imprezas.  The Imprezas get us to ski country up north.  Each one earns the name Sure-Footed Beast, or (predictably), SFB for short.  

Just getting this one in under the wire.  It is still Tuesday.

 

 

 

 

Ten on Tuesday: Ten Books that Have Stayed With Me

1.  Corelli's Mandolin     I loved the lyrical writing.  The story was heartrending.  The movie was miserable.  

 

2.  Game of Thrones, all five books     Discovered this years ago.  The HBO series is wonderful.

 

3.  Stumbling on Happiness, by Daniel Gilbert     Already told you about this in another post from the past.  Am considering starting on my third read of this book.  That good.

 

4.  The Paradox of Choice     Helps explain so much about us.  My consumer behavior changed after reading this book.  I spend less, I buy less, I fret less over the possible choices.

 

5.  The Assassin series, by Robin Hobb    I usually do not like multiples.  The story dilutes, complexity makes the reader's life difficult.  Not here.  She just released the start of a new trilogy, Fool's Assassin.  On my Kindle now.  Half way through.

 

6.  Lord of the Rings trilogy    The books and the movies were superb.

 

7.  Sarantine Mosaic (two books) by Guy Gavriel Kay.  He is a wonderful author.

 

8.  Hugh Howey's Wool    Hard to stop thinking about this one.

 

9.  Angelique    A great series from when I was growing up.  Love, betrayal, yearning, passion.

 

10.  A History of Wine by Hugh Johnson    Not only a history of wine, but a history of Europe through centuries.  He covers vineyards, feudal conflicts, wars, taxes, boycotts, egos, royalty, trade partners.  Painless way to understand lots of usually tedious subjects.  The lens one uses to view makes a difference.  The newer edition is much shorter, and I am not sure that would be a good thing.

 

Sunflower, from the Bridge of Flowers, Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, August 2014